Shadows and The Sea - The Darkling

Genya & High School Grisha

Percy's POV

I woke up once again in my bed. That's strange. Wasn't I outside near the lake with the gen-... oh that's right.

I groaned and threw an arm over my eyes. I had a flashback in front of General Kirigan and almost caused a fucking hurricane in the middle of the lake. Great. Now he'll be even more suspicious.

Letting out a frustrated huff, I sat up from my bed and noticed that Riptide, my charmed bag, and my water container were all set neatly on the vanity near the window. I smiled to myself lightly at the thought of the general taking my effects off so I could be more comfortable in bed. His presence was soothing to say the least. I don't really see how he's so menacing. A little serious and cold maybe, but not so scary as he's made out to be. Or maybe that's my past trauma with bad guys talking.

I was pulled out of my head by a banging on the double doors that led into the halls of the Little Palace. I slowly walked to the door before I heard a familiar voice.

"Percy, are you up?" Alina's voice questioned through the closed entrance to my room.

"Ugh, we don't have time for this," said an unfamiliar voice before the doors swung open.

A beautiful ginger woman in a white kefta strode into the room with purpose and very little warning that it made me take a step back and reach for the ring of my father's insignia on my hand.

The new woman stopped and looked at me, "I'm not here for a fight. That would be a complete waste of time that we do not have." She raised her hand and with a snap, a line of women dressed in white filed into the room. As the women made their way into the bathroom, the ginger stood near the vanity and examined me. "Saints, your hair is a mess," she said, almost offended.

"Gee...just what I want to hear in the morning," I responded with Persassy in the forefront.

She rolled her eyes and one of the women in the bathroom came back out, "It's ready Ms. Safin."

The ginger, Genya, nodded her head and gestured to the maid. She made her way to me, grabbed my arm, and pulled me into the bathroom. The other two maids were knelt by the ornate tub with loofahs in hand.

The maid who led me into the bathroom coaxed my clothing off of me and all but pushed me into the soapy water. The two loofah wielding maids started to get to work, mumbling insults in Ancient Ravka.

"She's too muscular, it's not ladylike."

"What are these marks? They're hideous."

"Her hair is unusual."

Alright, that's enough of that. I splashed the women who were talking about me. They looked shocked and backed away from the tub when they saw my glare.

"That's enough. I'm sure you have been taught better manners than to insult someone to their face in a different language, not knowing whether or not that person can understand and speak that very language. So why don't you two and your chatty little motor mouths run along," I ranted while looking each woman in the eye.

They scurried along out of the door and left me on my own. I rolled my eyes and used my powers to warp the water around my body. Each smudge of dirt and knot of hair came undone with the water's movement and in less than three minutes, I was done.

I walked back out, now dressed in a silver robe that was hung in the bathroom and I was ushered into the chair of the vanity.

Alina sat on my bed, running her fingers over the scar on the palm of her hand. She was dressed in a First Army uniform but had a gold sequined veil over the hat.